Freedom Plate information bulletin: Please read

[Eric Sedletzky]

This bulletin will cover all the specifics for the Freedom Plate - options, pricing, wing compatibility, set up, etc.

I’ve been covering this with each email notification I send out but I think it would be a lot easier on me to have a specific thread/place to send people so they can get the information.
Stainless Steel plates have begun going out and I am notifying people in order letting them know they are up.

Material:
These plates are made from domestic (U.S.A.) 304 stainless.
All other stainless components are 304 as well. The wedge blocks are made from 6061 extruded aluminum channel.

The base price for a plain satin finished plate is $200
Add glamour polish $50
Add rail bracket $75
Add aluminum wedge block $20
*Shipping is additional and will be calculated according to weight, location, and specified carrier.
*There is no performance difference between the polished and satin options, it’s a looks/bling factor thing only.

The way I arranged the pricing is so people can pick and choose which options they’d like based on their needs and budget, and which wing they plan to use.

If you are using either the VDH Argonaut donut wing or the Oxycheq Mach V series wings all you really need is a plain plate.
Those two wings have specifically designed roll control logs sewn into pockets on either side of the wing slots both top and bottom which hold the tank out at the perfect distance so the wing can function and no material gets bound up or pinched between the tank and plate. The roll control bars are made out of rigid non squishable hard plastic tubes so they will resist squishing down or losing shape over time.
The wedge block can be used as an accessory to add a little distance on the bottom of the plate to increase the stand off angle of the tank. This provides a better angle of the tank for some people who may have pronounced inner curves to their lower backs and/or more pronounced butt cheeks (glutes) and need the tank to sit out at the bottom a little.
If you plan to use the plate with no wing (no BC diving) then the wedge block or a rail is mandatory to support the tank.
The rail is designed to adapt other wings besides the VDH and Oxycheq wings to the plate, but the rail can be used with VDH or Oxy as well.
Some wings do not have slots, have slots in the wrong locations, have a different non compatible roll control system, or a combination of any/all above and cannot be used directly onto the plate. The rail works as an adapter bracket in such cases similar to how a STA would work. The cam bands can be run under the rail bars in cases where they can’t be run through the plate. I always recommend running the cam bands through the plate if at all possible for security reasons. Some people choose to use the rail with their VDH or Oxycheq wings for added weight or to set the tank out at the bottom.
Another feature of the rail is it can be used as a weight pouch securing system. A three or four lb. soft weight can be lodged under the rail bars towards the bottom for some added non ditchable ballast. The rail alone adds about 1 lb. on medium and large plates, and slightly less on small plates.

Both the wedge and rail get bolted down OVER the wing. The wing always goes down onto the plate first then any bracketry will get attached over the wing.

Rails should be ordered and built before the plate leaves. Each plate is hand formed therefore to be able to guarantee a perfect fit I like to build the rail onto each specific plate before it leaves. Rails *can* be ordered later but I can’t guarantee an exact fit since the curve of each plate is ever so slightly different.
The downside to the rail brackets are that they move the tank out away from your body about an inch.
There can also be issues sometines with the length of the top bolt. It is imperative that the top nut threads all the way onto the bolt and the bolt is flush with the nut, no threads in the nut showing and no excess threads sticking up past the end of the nut. This *may* require (in some cases) a little DIY on the part of the user to cut a longer stainless carriage bolt down to get an exact fit. I don’t have control over the multitude of wings out there that might be used with the plate/rail and and therefore can’t guarantee that the top carriage bolt will be a perfect fit/length when using a rail bracket over any wing.

Weights for s/s: (plain, no brackets)
Small = 3 lbs. (1363 gm)
Medium = 3 lbs 7.5 oz. (1571 gm)
Large = 4 lbs. (1803 gm)

**Special orders may take longer to complete. All work on special orders is commenced after full payment is received.

Happy diving!

 

[lowviz]

-don't overlook the fact that even though they are easy to rig, it is easy to get it wrong on the first try.

Rigging instructions belong in every info bulletin. The new Freedom Contour - The Rolex of backplates.

A Freedom Plate is so simple it sometimes confuses people (me on my first one) as to how to rig it...

 

[Chanly83]

I agree with @lowviz , rigging and materials list to build your First BP/w would be extremely helpful for the nubies out there.

Also I think @Eric Sedletzky deserves a special thank you for building such a beautiful work of art for a reasonable price.

 

[Charred]

So how do I order one?

 

[ams511]

What about the aluminum versions?

 

[superheavydeathmetal]

So how do I order one?

You can order one by posting a message in this thread with your preferred material and size:

Official Freedom Plate List: Please respond here.

 

[rsingler]

I agree with @lowviz , rigging and materials list to build your First BP/w would be extremely helpful for the nubies out there.

Materials are discussed in detail in several posts in The new Freedom Contour - The Rolex of backplates.
My parts list was here: post #466
https://www.scubaboard.com/community/posts/8195548/
with rigging pictures in several posts preceding and following.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Set up and rigging.

Rigging a Freedom Plate is extremely simple.
My favorite harness kit is a plain Hog style harness kit with one continous length of webbing. You can go to your LDS and more than likely get most of what you need there, or buy a complete kit online. A good complete kit I like is the Oxycheq Hog Harness kit, it comes complete with a soft crotch strap and the webbing doesn’t have a grommet hole in the middle. The Freedom Plate does not need a grommet hole in the webbing. You will also need to purchase two cam bands/buckles.

To lace up the webbing in the plate:
there are three slots at the top of the plate. To start, the webbing will be laced up through these three top slots. First, take your length of webbing and fold it in half. Then holding the plate looking at the front of the plate and the three top slots, run one end of the webbing through the middle slot and one end of the webbing through the lowest slot and pull both straps evenly through the plate until all the webbing is through and pulled tight. Then run both ends of the webbing back through the top slot from the back out through the front, one strap overlapping the other, and pull them tight. Pull them sideways apart a little so the strsps fan out and form a “Y”. The straps should come out of the top slot on the front of the plate and not out the back of plate. With doubles plates it’s reverse from this so forget about that, you can’t use a doubles plate set up quide for a Freedom Plate. If you’ve been around long enough to have used an old style plastic back pack then you’ll know exactly how the straps should go on the top of the plate.

Next, place your D-rings where you want them on the shoulder straps, generally at the front of the shoulder but not so low that they are half way into your arm pit. The straps will then go down around your body and into the lower side (inside) angled slot at the base of the plate, then around the back of the plate, and out the outermost vertical slot, then around your waist. Make sure the strap lays flat against your body as it goes down from top to bottom and you don’t get a half twist in it. You can put a keeper in between the two waist band slots if you wish to “lock” the webbing in place so it doesn’t move. This where a lot of frustration can develop with setting up webbing on a BP/W.
A trick is to leave out the keeper at first and set up the rig complete with a tank. Put on your wetsuit or heavy clothing /jacket to simulate the bulk of your wetsuit/drysuit. Don the rig and bend over forwards. As you are bent over “hike” the rig up as you pull on the waist straps straight out from your body. The straps will “slide” and you can get the perfect adjustment just by feel. While the straps are still in position, either take the rig off carefully without resliding the straps, or get someone to mark the webbing with a white china marker on the backside where the keeper will go. This is a fool proof way of getting the shoulder straps perfect. Freedom Plate webbing needs to be set a little more snug than a doubles plate since it is formed to fit your body and tends to find it’s “sweet spot” on your back. To get out it’s just a matter of releasing the waist strap and sliding one hand under the shoulder strap and sliding out of the rig in one fell swoop. I personally don't care for the arms back method trying to shake the rig off like a coat. The other method is to release the waist buckle then reach back, grab your tank valve, and pull the rig up and over your head and off so it’s out in ftont of you Mike Nelson style.
You can place any D-rings along the waist strap as needed. Set up of the crotch strap and waist buckle is identical to any other BP/W rig.
The Hog style harness will use a looped crotch strap that falls away when the waist buckle is released.

The set up of the wing is easy too.

If you are using just the plate with the VDH wing or Oxycheq Mach V wing with no brackets:
Lay the wing onto the plate and line up the holes in the plate and wing. For the VDH wing you will use the second hole down from the top in order for the slots to line up hetween the wing and plate. Use the two short 1/4” stainless carriage bolts/nuts to secure the wing to the plate. Make sure the domed side if the bolt is on the front of the plate! The nut should fit down into the grommet a tad and be out of the way. You can finger tighten the nuts or use a 7/16” end wrench to give them a little snug. These 1/4” carriage bolts are just for convenience, they don’t necessarily *need* to be used. They are there for convenience and to provide ease of set up when mounting a tank in challenging situations (rocking boat, etc.) Next step is to string the cam bands through the wing and plate.
*Note: it is mandatory that the cam bands be run THROUGH THE PLATE for security and safety reasons, and not just through the wing when setting up the plate as described above!
After the wing is on and rhe cam bands are set in place and laced up it’s time to drop the rig down onto a tank. Slide the rig down over a tank and set the tank shoulder down into the upside down U shape of the arc of the wing donut and set the cam bands. You may need to rotate the tank a few times to get the clocking correct due to the migrating affect of torquing the cam bands. The plate/wing relationship is set up so that the top of the plate should be about where the top of the center panel ends and the inflation tube starts. This will set the tank at the optimal height for single hose regulators so that the 1st stage won’t smack you in the back of the head.

When using the wedge bracket with the VDH wing or Oxycheq wing:
Instead of using the 1/4” stainless carriage bolt on the bottom, lay the wedge down over the wing and use the provided 5/16” bolt instead to hold down the wedge bracket. Align the bracket until it looks straight then use a 1/2” end wrench to snug up the bracket. The wedge will provide a few extra degrees of stand off for a more pronounched tank angle.

If you are using the rail:
Lay your wing down onto the plate and align the bolt holes. Set the rail in place over the wing with the tall side down. Put the 5/16” bolts through the holes and tighten the nuts down. Again, make sure the domed side of the bolt head is on the plate face side! At this point you will need to assess whether or not the wing slots line up with the plate slots for the cam bands depending on which wing you are using. If you’re using the VDH wing or Oxycheq wing they will line up. If you’re using some other brand then they might. If not, then you’ll need to run the cam bands directly under the rail bars instead of through the plate. If you do this then make sure the rail bolts are tight! Otherwise, if they loosen you could lose your tank along with the bracket. Make sure the threads in the nuts are completely taken up by the bolt, and also make sure there is no excess bolt showing beyond the nut on the top bolt since this could cause the bolt to dig into the tank.
Also, depending on what wing you are using, it may be easier to lace up the cam bands through the wing and plate first before attaching the rail.

*Note on the small size plates:
The bolt holes are on 9 1/2” centers on the small plates. Make sure your wing of choice has a 9.5” center hole option if you plan to use a rail bracket and/or a wedge bracket. Both the VDH and Oxycheq wings have this option. On the VDH wings you will use the two inside grommets top and bottom to mount the wing. They are spaced at 9.5” centers.

These are the specifics. I hope all this is clear and helpful.

Thank you

 

[Nicolas Pottier]

Any pics of the new style plates? Also any way to check where we are on the list? I was confirmed but that was a ways back and no idea if I may have gotten lost in the shuffle. (totally understandable if so)

 

[Diver below 83]

Set up and rigging.

Rigging a Freedom Plate is extremely simple.
My favorite harness kit is a plain Hog style harness kit with one continous length of webbing. You can go to your LDS and more than likely get most of what you need there, or buy a complete kit online. A good complete kit I like is the Oxycheq Hog Harness kit, it comes complete with a soft crotch strap and the webbing doesn’t have a grommet hole in the middle. The Freedom Plate does not need a grommet hole in the webbing. You will also need to purchase two cam bands/buckles.

To lace up the webbing in the plate:
there are three slots at the top of the plate. To start, the webbing will be laced up through these three top slots. First, take your length of webbing and fold it in half. Then holding the plate looking at the front of the plate and the three top slots, run one end of the webbing through the middle slot and one end of the webbing through the lowest slot and pull both straps evenly through the plate until all the webbing is through and pulled tight. Then run both ends of the webbing back through the top slot from the back out through the front, one strap overlapping the other, and pull them tight. Pull them sideways apart a little so the strsps fan out and form a “Y”. The straps should come out of the top slot on the front of the plate and not out the back of plate. With doubles plates it’s reverse from this so forget about that, you can’t use a doubles plate set up quide for a Freedom Plate. If you’ve been around long enough to have used an old style plastic back pack then you’ll know exactly how the straps should go on the top of the plate.

Next, place your D-rings where you want them on the shoulder straps, generally at the front of the shoulder but not so low that they are half way into your arm pit. The straps will then go down around your body and into the lower side (inside) angled slot at the base of the plate, then around the back of the plate, and out the outermost vertical slot, then around your waist. Make sure the strap lays flat against your body as it goes down from top to bottom and you don’t get a half twist in it. You can put a keeper in between the two waist band slots if you wish to “lock” the webbing in place so it doesn’t move. This where a lot of frustration can develop with setting up webbing on a BP/W.
A trick is to leave out the keeper at first and set up the rig complete with a tank. Put on your wetsuit or heavy clothing /jacket to simulate the bulk of your wetsuit/drysuit. Don the rig and bend over forwards. As you are bent over “hike” the rig up as you pull on the waist straps straight out from your body. The straps will “slide” and you can get the perfect adjustment just by feel. While the straps are still in position, either take the rig off carefully without resliding the straps, or get someone to mark the webbing with a white china marker on the backside where the keeper will go. This is a fool proof way of getting the shoulder straps perfect. Freedom Plate webbing needs to be set a little more snug than a doubles plate since it is formed to fit your body and tends to find it’s “sweet spot” on your back. To get out it’s just a matter of releasing the waist strap and sliding one hand under the shoulder strap and sliding out of the rig in one fell swoop. I personally don't care for the arms back method trying to shake the rig off like a coat. The other method is to release the waist buckle then reach back, grab your tank valve, and pull the rig up and over your head and off so it’s out in ftont of you Mike Nelson style.
You can place any D-rings along the waist strap as needed. Set up of the crotch strap and waist buckle is identical to any other BP/W rig.
The Hog style harness will use a looped crotch strap that falls away when the waist buckle is released.

The set up of the wing is easy too.

If you are using just the plate with the VDH wing or Oxycheq Mach V wing with no brackets:
Lay the wing onto the plate and line up the holes in the plate and wing. For the VDH wing you will use the second hole down from the top in order for the slots to line up hetween the wing and plate. Use the two short 1/4” stainless carriage bolts/nuts to secure the wing to the plate. Make sure the domed side if the bolt is on the front of the plate! The nut should fit down into the grommet a tad and be out of the way. You can finger tighten the nuts or use a 7/16” end wrench to give them a little snug. These 1/4” carriage bolts are just for convenience, they don’t necessarily *need* to be used. They are there for convenience and to provide ease of set up when mounting a tank in challenging situations (rocking boat, etc.) Next step is to string the cam bands through the wing and plate.
*Note: it is mandatory that the cam bands be run THROUGH THE PLATE for security and safety reasons, and not just through the wing when setting up the plate as described above!
After the wing is on and rhe cam bands are set in place and laced up it’s time to drop the rig down onto a tank. Slide the rig down over a tank and set the tank shoulder down into the upside down U shape of the arc of the wing donut and set the cam bands. You may need to rotate the tank a few times to get the clocking correct due to the migrating affect of torquing the cam bands. The plate/wing relationship is set up so that the top of the plate should be about where the top of the center panel ends and the inflation tube starts. This will set the tank at the optimal height for single hose regulators so that the 1st stage won’t smack you in the back of the head.

When using the wedge bracket with the VDH wing or Oxycheq wing:
Instead of using the 1/4” stainless carriage bolt on the bottom, lay the wedge down over the wing and use the provided 5/16” bolt instead to hold down the wedge bracket. Align the bracket until it looks straight then use a 1/2” end wrench to snug up the bracket. The wedge will provide a few extra degrees of stand off for a more pronounched tank angle.

If you are using the rail:
Lay your wing down onto the plate and align the bolt holes. Set the rail in place over the wing with the tall side down. Put the 5/16” bolts through the holes and tighten the nuts down. Again, make sure the domed side of the bolt head is on the plate face side! At this point you will need to assess whether or not the wing slots line up with the plate slots for the cam bands depending on which wing you are using. If you’re using the VDH wing or Oxycheq wing they will line up. If you’re using some other brand then they might. If not, then you’ll need to run the cam bands directly under the rail bars instead of through the plate. If you do this then make sure the rail bolts are tight! Otherwise, if they loosen you could lose your tank along with the bracket. Make sure the threads in the nuts are completely taken up by the bolt, and also make sure there is no excess bolt showing beyond the nut on the top bolt since this could cause the bolt to dig into the tank.
Also, depending on what wing you are using, it may be easier to lace up the cam bands through the wing and plate first before attaching the rail.

*Note on the small size plates:
The bolt holes are on 9 1/2” centers on the small plates. Make sure your wing of choice has a 9.5” center hole option if you plan to use a rail bracket and/or a wedge bracket. Both the VDH and Oxycheq wings have this option. On the VDH wings you will use the two inside grommets top and bottom to mount the wing. They are spaced at 9.5” centers.

These are the specifics. I hope all this is clear and helpful.

Thank you

Great info. Thank you